My Little Dashie: 2020

by Rdasher12

May

*May 25th, 2020* (Memorial Day)

Another U.S. holiday has come and passed. Since the pandemic, it has made the way that we celebrate them a little different, though it hasn't changed for us nearly as much as it likely has for the rest of the country. We tend to stay inside for most holidays given our situation, aside from a park outing if the weather permits, but we have had to make sure that we take extra precautions when it comes to sanitization and things like that.

Whenever a holiday like today rolls around, it gets me thinking. There are so many holidays that have been incorporated into American heritage, but it can be hard to make a big deal out of every single one. Which one gets celebrated the least? Cinco De Mayo? St. Patrick's Day? Labor Day? Memorial Day? Growing up, we tried to do something for every holiday that came about, big or small. I always enjoyed the changes in pace, and I think Dashie has too. With there being less to watch on TV during the last few months, I've had to use these holidays to make up for the boredom we sometimes experience on the weekends.

Unlike this year, Memorial Day tends to mark the first day that all of the pools open up for business after the cold winter months. That didn't happen this year though, and it might not happen for a while at this rate. It is a shame... I know Dashie has always wanted to go to a pool ever since she saw it on TV for the first time. There aren't any around here, but even if there were, I couldn't exactly take her to them. Maybe I can buy a kiddie pool for us to use in the small backyard I have once it really starts to get hot out. She sure isn't a child anymore, but it would do the trick.

Memorial Day has always been an awkward one to celebrate with Dashie. It was pretty difficult for her to understand the reason why we celebrate it back when she was just a filly, and to be honest, she still doesn't totally get it nowadays. I've tried what I could to help her, but it hasn't been easy. My family had no military background, and nor do I. When Dashie questioned why we celebrate fallen military personnel when we don't know any of them, I tried to explain to her that their sacrifices were what enabled our country to be as great as it is today.

Of course, that only made things more complicated, seeing how her only idea of what our country was like was being cramped up inside a small one-story run-down house on most days and getting to go to a field of grass to play outside maybe twice a week if she were lucky. I could only describe our country so much in tongue, it was a lot easier to show her through the TV over the years. She happily celebrates the holiday now, but I don't think her perception of today will ever be what the country intended.

Not to mention that showing her all of the ways that America is great only made it more difficult to explain why she couldn't go out and do those things. She knew she was different and she still does, but that can only go so far when a filly really wants something. I eventually chalked it up to being poor and not being able to afford to do and have things that others get to. Over the years, she has come to understand it, although I do wish that I could do more for her. She's my little girl, and she deserves everything that her not-so-little-anymore heart desires.

The funny thing is that I pay for food and everything to keep Dashie happy and healthy, but I don't get any of the tax discounts that come with it if I put her as my dependent. It's not like that would ever go down well, but I digress...

As I said earlier, today was Memorial Day. Our little festivities have long since ended, and I now lay in my bed alone with my thoughts while Dashie most likely sleeps in her own room.

The typical Memorial Day celebrations would usually include hamburgers, hotdogs, outdoor play, and of course thanking those who lost their lives defending our country. We might not know anyone like that personally, but that's no reason to not thank everyone in general.

While carrot dogs and veggie burgers were on the menu for today, there wasn't much outdoor play to be had. We were just about to leave for a park outing and picnic when storm clouds began to form, so we decided to have our holiday meal and playtime inside. I could have had Dashie fly up and move the clouds somewhere else, but it hasn't exactly rained here in a while and I only have her mess with Mother Nature when it's a dire emergency. Thankfully there hasn't been one in the years that I've had her so far, and hopefully, things will stay that way.

Ironically enough, a few moments after thinking that, a warning from the weather service pops up on my phone warning citizens in the area of potential flash flooding and lightning strikes in high places. I guess we were overdue for a storm like this, we haven't had one in this area in at least a decade.

I decide to get out of bed and make sure that Dashie is alright. She may be fully grown at this point, but she'll always be my little Dashie. I can't help but to make sure that she is okay.

I walk out of my bedroom and through the varying rooms in my house on my way to Dashie's room, turning on the main hallway light as I do, as it was still pretty much the only light source outside of the bedrooms and bathrooms. As I approach Dashie's bedroom door, I begin to notice something, or rather, a lack of something. It seemed to be raining buckets not two minutes ago, but the pitter-patter on our roof had steadily been losing volume and consistency since. The weather app said that the warning for the entire county was in effect for most of the night, so it's a little odd for it to be letting up so soon. I can't say that I'm too worried about it, though. The weather people don't always get it right, and I'll be able to sleep much better without the sound of pebbles harassing my bedroom window.

I reach Dashie's bedroom door and slowly open it, assuming she was asleep. However, I quickly realize that was far from the case. Dashie's nightstand lamp was on, her bedsheets undone, and her window was open. My mind instantly goes to a state of panic. I had so many questions zipping through my head. Why isn't she in her room? Did she leave through the window? Was it on her own accord, or did someone kidnap her? But most importantly, where is she?!

I look at her open window, the blue curtains floating around in the steady breeze that was coming from the moist air outside. I speedwalk to it and peer out in the hopes that she'd be right outside or within view. I'll do anything to find her, but this might not be as big of a deal as I'm making it and I need to stay calm. At first, I see no sign of her from the windowsill. The rain has dwindled to nothing more than a drizzle and the rain clouds have mostly dissipated at this point, but the moonlight offers limited visibility in the night sky above.

I call out to my daughter trying to keep it cool "Dashie? Are you out here?" I use the flashlight feature on my phone to see if she was anywhere close. I see no sign of her and after a few minutes of searching from the window I get my upper body back inside and come up with a plan.

Dashie has never done something like this before, so it's hard to believe that she made this decision herself. Is it really possible that some stranger saw her through the covered window of her bedroom and snatched her up to take her who knows where? My dad instincts try to chime in and tell me to dial 911 immediately, but I quickly reject that idea. I'd probably get sent to a mental facility for saying that someone kidnapped my rainbow-pony daughter at worst, and at best I'd just be ignored and put down as a prank call.

After another moment of plotting, I decided to search the rest of the house and make sure that I didn't just miss her. I leave the room, keeping the window ajar just in case she is still out there and comes back through there soon. If I were to close it, she'd have no way of getting inside the house and away from whatever weather is out there. Not to mention no way of contacting me to let her inside, either. She could bang on one of the windows or the front door, but I'd be skeptical to open a door in the middle of the night...

I jog into the hall as quickly as I can safely, only to run into something as I do. I hit the ground with a thud.

"Oof... You should really watch where you're going, Pops. Why're you running in the house, anyway, and what were you doing in my room?" Dashie sits up and shakes herself off as she says this. My jaw drops to the floor in disbelief and relief at the same time.

After letting it soak in for a second, I reply. "Dashie... I thought you had disappeared when you weren't in bed and the window was open. Where were you, and why is your window open?!"

Getting slightly defensive, Dashie replies back. "Hey, hey, relax Dad. I was just using the bathroom." She points down the other side of the hallway to the restroom "I'm sorry if I made you worry... I had my window open because I couldn't sleep thanks to the storm and I decided to move the clouds that were right above our house so we could get some rest. I figured I was doing both of us a favor, ya know?"

I haven't had a parenting moment with Dashie in a while now. I was relieved that she was okay, and even felt a little silly for overreacting a little. But, at the same time, I can't help but feel as if I reacted normally. Dashie knows that she's not supposed to mess with the weather unless I give her permission to do so, or even leave the house without me for that matter. While I do appreciate what she did, it's important that I lay down the law with her and parent her just like I used to when she was younger. She doesn't make many mistakes like this nowadays, but then again, if the storm was as bad as the weather app was telling me, then I just might have had her do what she did to make sure that we were alright. It doesn't excuse what she did, but we were at least on a similar page when it came to that.

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After shutting and locking the window, we sat on the couch in the living room and had a talk. It was nothing too serious, as it was mostly just a big misunderstanding, but I made sure to remind her of the house rules. She's been with me for nearly eight years now, and she's probably a teenager at this point, so I suppose she may be hitting her rebellious phase or something. I'll never know how it works for sure with ponies, but I will always do what I can.

She ended up apologizing for disobeying the rules, explaining how she just never really thought about them and focused more on our safety as a whole. I understood, and I might've done the same if I were her, but it is what it is.

I sometimes feel bad about having to be so strict with her, but there's not much else that I can do. Thankfully, she has been very cooperative with me for the most part. I'd hate to be a mean parent... I'm all she has, and it'd be a shame if the only social contact she ever had was negative.

After we cleared everything up and she promised me that she wouldn't do stuff like that without asking me first in the future, we hugged it out and promised to take a park outing together after I got back home from work tomorrow. We head back to our own rooms again and by this time it's well past midnight. I'd love to complain about the lack of sleep I'll be sure to get tonight, but I guess that's just part of being a parent. I wouldn't trade it for all of the sleep in the world...

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I eventually doze off to sleep a short time later, thinking about our past, present, COVID, and how it might effect our future. The top epidemiologists are saying that it could be a threat for years and never truly go away. They've started work on a vaccine from the looks of things, at least. They tend to take a long time to develop, but it might be our only hope of returning to normal sooner than we would otherwise. Thankfully, the cases in the country have just begun to steadily fall thanks to the warmer temperatures. Maybe if we're lucky, it'll just go away on its own this summer and things can get back to normal for everyone. But hey, what do I know?

Author's Note:

I honestly tried to make this chapter shorter than usual to make sure that I'd be able to keep the new chapters on a consistent and frequent schedule. But, as usual, I found myself getting carried away again... Thankfully, this chapter only took me a couple of days, and I'm looking forward to writing about the summer months! I know not much happened in this chapter (month) but I promise you that some of these months are going to be mainly filler, as slice of life stories are. I hope you all enjoyed this one and look for me very soon!

Comments

[Bronycommander]

i enjoyed it, better than nothing